Thill-support



0. SOH-IPPERLY.

' (No Model.)

THILL SUPPORT.

No. 554,202.] Patented Feb. 4, 1896.

I lgazgfm I I Oowradfichwerly; lay 1,5 Afim-geys,

NITED STATES ,ATENT FFicE.

CONRAD SCI'IIFFERLY, OF FORT IVAYNE, INDIANA.

THlLL-SUPPORT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 554,202, dated February 4, 1896.

Application filed September 28,1895. Serial No. 564,040. (No model.) 7

T0 aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CONRAD SOHIFFERLY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fort Wayne, in the county of Allen and State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Shaft-Support, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in shaft-supports for buggies and other vehicles.

The object of the present invention is to improve the construction of shaft-supports and to provide a simple and inexpensive device adapted to be readily applied to an ordinary thill-coupling and capable of holding a shaft in an elevated position.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device which will automatically engage and release a shaft as it is raised to an elevated position or lowered therefrom.

The invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claims hereto appended.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a shaft-support constructed in accordance with this invention and illustrating the manner of supporting a shaft. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view, Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view, and Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view, of the shaft-support.

Like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings. I

1 designates a shaftsupport mounted 011 a thill-coupling 2 and constructed with a single piece of resilient metal and comprising similar sides 3, located above the thill-coupling and forming apair of resilient jaws and adapted to engage the shaft 4 when the latter is swung upward, as illustrated in Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings. The upper portions of the sides are substantially semicircular and the sides are bent outward at the top at 5 to form a shaft-receiving opening.

The front terminals 6 diverge downward and are provided with eyes 7, located at opposite sides of the thill-coupling and receiving the coupling-bolt, whereby the front of the she ft-support is secured to the thill-coupling. The rearportions of the sides are contiguous to each other and extend downward at the back of the thill-coupling to the bottom thereof and are provided with an L-shaped extension 8, embracing the bottom portion of the thill- 5 5 coupling and passing upward in the space between the perforated ears thereof in advance of the axle. The shaft-support is connected with the back of the thill-coupling by an eye 9, receiving the sides and forming a support for the same.

It will be seen that the shaft-support is exceedingly simple and inexpensive in construction, that it is adapted to be readily applied to a thill-coupling, and that it is capable of automatically engaging a shaft as the latter is raised and of similarly releasing the same when it is desired to lower the shaft.

Changes in the form, proportion, and. minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any advantages of the invention.

lVhat I claim is- 1. A shaft-support constructed of resilient material, and comprising similar sides, having curved upper portions forming resilient jaws and provided with outwardly-extending bends forming a shaft-opening, said sides being provided with diverging front portions terminating in eyes, adapted to be located at opposite sides of a thill-eoupling and to receive the coupling-bolt, the rear ends of the sides being providedwith an L-shaped extension adapted to embrace the bottom of a thillcoupling, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a thill-coupling, of a shaft-support constructed of resilient material and consisting of a pair of jaws extending over the chill-coupling and arranged to be engaged by and to support a shaft, and having their front portions extended downward at opposite sides of the thill-coupling and terminatin g in eyes and receiving the couplingbolt, whereby the front ends of the jaws are firmly supported, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

CONRAD SOI-IIFFERLY.

Vitnesses:

JOHN W. MILLSBOY, ALoYs SUTTER. 

